‘Infrastructure’ll drive real estate growth’

The Managing Director of Cross and Churchill, Mr. Taiwo Ogunbodede, has said the full potential of the real estate sector can be better realised if the government put in place adequate infrastructure.

Such endeavour, he further said, would also stimulate faster growth in the real estate sector.

Ogunbodede, also the Chairman, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Southwest chapter, with adequate infrastructure in place, people do not necessarily have to live in cities at exorbitant costs.

“Housing will come into being when the Federal Goernment begins to put in place infrastructure. I like what Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State is doing around Epe Division. The entire road network in Epe is on another scale. It means that you can live in Epe and work in Ikeja or on the Island. Coscharis is in Awoyaya, who would have thought that such a firm will come to Awoyaya? That is the effect of having good infrastructure in place,” he said.

According to Ogunbodede, there is and there will always be demand for housing in the country. However, he said, what is lacking is the housing units to fit peoples’ pockets, and the housing type people put demands on. For instance, he explained that in the years the stock market boomed, people sold houses at N140 million to N150 million, because they made good returns on their stocks within a very short time. But things have since changed now meaning that developers and potential home investors have to check their pockets.

On the increased survey fees being put in place by the Lagos Chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Ogunbodede said it is sending a dangerous signal to other professional bodies in the built environment. For instance, he explained that if a client is interested in buying a land for N4 million and he is being asked to pay N300, 000 as survey fees, then such a client can back out of such transaction.

“I think it is not a fair thing to do at this time of recession; things like this can be a disservice to affordable housing which we all are trying to achieve,” he said.